Adolf Landsman

Adolf Landsman

This picture was taken after the war, when I had an urgent military service in the army. The picture was taken in Lvov by the monument of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy. I am to the right, the other two people are acquaintances; I don't remember their names. The picture was taken in 1946.

After the war, young officers eligible for a military career were supposed to go through a physical examination. I finished the war in the rank of a lieutenant. I was so unwilling to stay in the army that I even made indications to my commanders for them not to promote me in rank. But in accordance with my data - ten grades of school, artillery school and combat experience - I was supposed to stay in the army and continue the service. I met a doctor who was a member of the medical board. He was a laryngologist. I had a contusion, so he was supposed to examine me. I asked him to put my ailment in brighter colors.

Then I remembered that I read somewhere that when the Germans sent young people from the occupied territories to Germany, they had to go through a medical checkup. Young people mixed tobacco and tea, put them in rolls and then smoked them before the physical examination. Then they were told that they had heart trouble and they weren't sent anywhere.

I smoked such a roll before going through a physical check. The doctor, whom I had asked to help me out, checked my heart and said that there was something wrong with it. Some other doctors also examined me and confirmed my physically restricted status. Based on the findings of the commission I was demobilized from the army in one month. I don't consider my deed shameless; I was a rather good soldier at war and did my best for my country and for the Red Army, but after the war I wanted to be a civilian. I was happy to get demobilized.

I returned to my parents and entered the Moscow Energy Institute in a month. It was hard for me to pass the entrance exams.
At that time it wasn't because of my nationality, just because I lost my knowledge for four years and my brain worked differently after the war. But it was taken into consideration that I was a front-line soldier and had awards, so I was accepted.

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